Why Not?

Canada has instituted integrated technical committees where relevant technical issues surrounding a specific product can be discussed and vetted by the various stakeholders (national, regional, international) represented, thereby reducing (in theory) considerable time in the review period normally experienced in the development cycle of a standard by multiple reviews. An example of one such activity has been designated as TCIP (Technical Committee on Industrial Products) by CSA and consists of representatives from related areas where technical issues are addressed and deliberated on under one umbrella.

Given the consideration that must be given the varied organizations and their processes within the U.S., such as UL STP’s, ANSI Committee’s, CANENA THC’S , US TAG‘s, NFPA, IEEE, and NEMA, why not consider consolidating the multiplicity of those efforts and start maximizing our development labors in a more practical way?

No organization needs to be left out, just represented around the same table at the same time. While some activities may be doing this in the shadows, why not encourage and institute the practice in the mainstream of our national development efforts for the purposes of synchronization, limiting redundancies, and shortening standard development?